“Reed Abelson at Economix points us to a startling study on the effects of the Great Recession on health insurance. You can see similar trends in the Census data, but for whatever reason this survey — carried out by a highly reputable group — is even stronger.

What this says is that the system that has provided workable insurance coverage to many (but not enough) Americans is coming apart at the seams. And this in turn means that if health reform goes down, we’re going to be looking at a wave of misery spreading across the land.”

Only problem is that it’s not the recession that sent premiums sky high, it’s Obamacare. Premiums have increased across the board for all Americans simply because Obamacare is costing the insurance companies and they’re passing that cost off to consumers.

Something a so-called “Nobel Prize Winning Economist” should know.

“When Energy Secretary Chu was asked about gas prices he said that they are not focusing on that – and that higher gas prices mean that Americans will push harder for alternative energy mediums. SERIOUSLY!? If I have to fill up my tank again I am going to lose it. Here’s what he said:

“We agree there is great suffering when the price of gasoline increases in the United States, and so we are very concerned about this,” said Chu, speaking to the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee. “As I have repeatedly said, in the Department of Energy, what we’re trying to do is diversify our energy supply for transportation so that we have cost-effective means.”

Chu specifically cited a reported breakthrough announced Monday by Envia Systems, which received funding from DOE’s ARPA-E, that could help slash the price of electric vehicle batteries.

He also touted natural gas as “great” and said DOE is researching how to reduce the cost of compressed natural gas tanks for vehicles.

High gasoline prices will make research into such alternatives more urgent, Chu said.

“But is the overall goal to get our price” of gasoline down, asked Nunnelee.

“No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy,” Chu replied. “We think that if you consider all these energy policies, including energy efficiency, we think that we can go a long way to becoming less dependent on oil and [diversifying] our supply and we’ll help the American economy and the American consumers.”

But this is only the beginning of sorrows. When Obama says “suck it up and sacrifice”, he means it. Liberals mean it. Socialism means it. Whether it’s digging deeper (your fair share) in taxes to fund more of the nanny state, or $10 a gallon to “ween” you and I off our Cadilacs, this is what the Obama administration has been, will – God Forbid – IS all about.

I think it would be a good idea to post Chu’s statement and picture in every gas station in America just to remind them of what they’re in for should they give Obama another four years.

“WASHINGTON – A burst of hiring in December pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in nearly three years, giving the economy a boost at the end of 2011.

The Labor Department said Friday that employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months.

“The economy’s been performing much better in the last several months,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, said on CBS’ “The Early Show” Friday. “Last year ended on a pretty high note. Holiday sales were pretty good. Auto dealers sold more cars … the job market’s feeling a little bit better. Even the housing market has a better tone to it, so I think things are looking up as we move into 2012.”

The hiring gains cap a six-month stretch in which the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month. That hasn’t happened since April 2006.

“There is no question that today’s employment report is a positive and there is also no question that the pace of job growth has accelerated of late,” said Dan Greenhaus, an analyst at BTIG LLC, a brokerage firm”

The only problem is that the majority of this hiring is likely due to temporary jobs created during the holiday. More than 28,000 jobs in retail – read temporary, and 58,000 in manufacturing (likely temporary for the holidays) are part of this number which means we need to wait until next month’s numbers to see if they hold up.

“According to the president, he’s been “adamant” with Congress for months now about a new jobs bill to help small businesses. Obama says this really good bill is stalled in the Senate, where so much administration legislation has been crammed through so effectively by Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid’s been so good at it, in fact, that he’s now running for his political life in a reelection campaign back in Nevada where Obama’s legislation is not so popular.

Reid’s up against a conservative Republican. So, That means that Harry Reid must be a Democrat, just like Obama, and just like 59% of the Senate’s votes.

The very same party that has controlled both houses of Congress since the 2006 election and really controlled them both since the 2008 hopey-changey balloting.

So, facing the growing grim possibility of a GOP surge on Nov. 2, is this maybe the start of buddy-bickering within the Democratic huddle? Vulnerable people pointing the proverbial political finger of blame at someone else? That’s ridiculous, of course.”

Lefty Steven Benen squawks:

” just have the hardest time understanding why the L.A. Times would publish such lazy drivel. Obama and Reid want a bill to boost small business incentives; Republicans don’t. This might be “the start of buddy-bickering within the Democratic huddle”? Given that Dems agree on the policy, what does that even mean?

And if the Democratic majority wants to pass a bill, and Republicans refuse to allow an up-or-down vote, why is it “ridiculous” to blame the GOP for its obstructionism?”

Because it is. Benen goes on to call Malcolm ” a partisan activist”. Talk about “Kettle Black”.

But the fact is that Democrats had the numbers to press through any legislation they wanted to and they did with Obamacare. The GOP hasn’t had the numbers to stop them. They only time we’ve had success is when we could wean a few conservative democrats off the bone.

It’s not been that hard though. The fact is that while they have the numbers they don’t have the hearts and minds of the American people which is why most mainline Dems won’t go along with Obama’s radical agenda.

Nutroots can spin that “GOP obstructionism” all they want but it’s crap. The problems in this country are solely because of Obama and the democrat congress screwing us into the ground. Thankfully in November we will begin to rise again.

Barack Obama
Congress

60 Minutes says, it’s about to get worse.

But there is a bright side. It might put lefty bloggers out of business.

“So, I have a confession and a suggestion. The confession: I go into restaurants these days, look around at the tables often still crowded with young people, and I have this urge to go from table to table and say: “You don’t know me, but I have to tell you that you shouldn’t be here. You should be saving your money. You should be home eating tuna fish. This financial crisis is so far from over. We are just at the end of the beginning. Please, wrap up that steak in a doggy bag and go home.”

Now you know why I don’t get invited out for dinner much these days. If I had my druthers right now we would convene a special session of Congress, amend the Constitution and move up the inauguration from Jan. 20 to Thanksgiving Day. Forget the inaugural balls; we can’t afford them. Forget the grandstands; we don’t need them. Just get me a Supreme Court justice and a Bible, and let’s swear in Barack Obama right now — by choice — with the same haste we did — by necessity — with L.B.J. in the back of Air Force One.

Unfortunately, it would take too long for a majority of states to ratify such an amendment. What we can do now, though, said the Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein, co-author of “The Broken Branch,” is “ask President Bush to appoint Tim Geithner, Barack Obama’s proposed Treasury secretary, immediately.” Make him a Bush appointment and let him take over next week. This is not a knock on Hank Paulson. It’s simply that we can’t afford two months of transition where the markets don’t know who is in charge or where we’re going. At the same time, Congress should remain in permanent session to pass any needed legislation.

This is the real “Code Red.” As one banker remarked to me: “We finally found the W.M.D.” They were buried in our own backyard — subprime mortgages and all the derivatives attached to them.”

Yeah, and the Democrats, beginning with Bill Clinton are the ones that buried them there you doof! Let’s not forget back in 2004 when Republicans warned of things to come and Democrats told us that there was no problem to fix.

Of course this isn’t to subtract that the point that Saturn doesn’t have enough rings around it is Bush’s fault too.

“NBC Universal made the first of potentially several rounds of staffing cuts at The Weather Channel (TWC) on Wednesday, axing the entire staff of the “Forecast Earth” environmental program during the middle of NBC’s “Green Week,” as well as several on-camera meteorologists. The layoffs totaled about 10 percent of the workforce, and are among the first major changes made since NBC completed its purchase of the venerable weather network in September.

The layoffs affected about 80 people, but left the long-term leadership of the network unclear, according to a source who requested anonymity due to the continuing uncertainty at the station.

Among the meteorologists who was let go was Dave Schwartz, a Weather Channel veteran and a viewer staple due to his lively on camera presentations. USA Today reported that meteorologists Cheryl Lemke and Eboni Deon were also let go.

The timing of the Forecast Earth cancellation was ironic, since it came in the middle of NBC’s “Green Week,” during which the network has been touting its environmental coverage across all of its platforms. Forecast Earth normally aired on weekends, but its presumed last episode was shown on a weekday due to the environmentally-oriented week.

Forecast Earth was hosted by former CNN anchor Natalie Allen, with contributions from climate expert Heidi Cullen.”

Cullen you’ll remember called for Nuremberg style trials for climatologists who dared to doubt the religion of global warming.

What goes around comes around babe!